Song of the Week #16
Although these days probably best known for tearing up the world stage with Fever333, Jason Butler rose to fame as the founding member and frontman of Letlive. I’m not going to pretend (like many of their fans) that I was one of approximately 20 people who had listened to Letlive before they released Fake History in 2010. However I do remember being passed the album for a listen by my one of my best friends who wrote music reviews for a Leeds fanzine at the time of its Epitaph re-release in 2011.
From the first 10 seconds of this Song of the Week it ended up being a “stop what you’re doing and listen” oh shit kind of moment. I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing at one time or another in your life. Another that sticks pretty vividly in my mind was hearing the opening to Welcome to the Jungle at age 11 on my first listen to Appetite for Destruction.
Funnily enough there have been 2 ‘stop what you’re doing’ moments that I associate with letlive. One was upon my first listen to the Fake History album, and the other was the first time I saw Jason Aalon Butler throw himself up and across the stage and into the crowd when I saw them play Leeds festival in 2011 with little to no self-preservation. My mind was well and truly blown by the energy the entire band put into each performance, and how the sounds emanating from Jean Nascimento’s amplifier all came from a tiny Fender Jazzmaster, rather than some 8 stringed monster axe that weighed the best part of a ton.
My mind was absolutely fried by the end of the set, and that performance really set the bar for what separates a good show from a spectacular one. All without one quip of the tried and tested “Wow [insert place name here]! You guys are the craziest motherfuckers we’ve ever played for! I think [insert place name here] is the new home of [insert band name here] from now on!”
Although Letlive. are no longer together, Fake History is an album that never disappoints whenever I spin it on the turntable. If you’re already familiar with, I’m sure this will bring back happy flashes of life circa 2011/12, and if not, it’s a gem that needs unearthing. This Song of the Week is The Sick, Sick 6.8 Billion.
On a side note, this week is the birthday of my co-Sinner Alex, go show him some love by picking up a bit of merch or a bottle of gin!